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For some time now I have embarked on a new exercise regimen and I have incorporated a calisthenics workout routine into my daily schedule. I have essentially been using just my own body weight to strength train and build muscle.

I first began my journey in June of this year.

I had watch videos like everyone else, of people like Hannibal for King. And I was amazed at the level of strength and fluidity that could be done with just using one’s own body weight.

It wasn’t until this year that i made the decision to go all out and just dedicate myself to the basics, like push ups, pull ups, dips, leg raises, hamstring raises, one legged pistols, plank and crunches.

The results have been nothing short of a miracle. I have been working out in some form or another for some 23 years now. And quite honestly, never have I had the results that I have now in such a short period of time.

Calisthenics is quite literally the magic bullet. And yet it is not something that happens overnight. It requires a ton of dedication and persistence. I cannot tell you how many countless days I have spent watching videos and reading articles on this very subject. I have become so enamored with it that I created a site, and now blog on it.

It is truly my passion.

I think I love it so much because it is one of the few sports that requires no equipment and that you can do anywhere and everywhere. It’s quite liberating knowing that I don’t need a gym membership to stay in great shape. The moves seem extremely easy but in all honesty they are not. And a simple move like a one legged hamstring bridge can leave you truly sore the next day.

I have since purchase parallettes and dip bars to work out at home, and I have a chin up bar. But really other than that its all my own body weight.

My body is my gym.

I am sticking to the basics as I mention earlier:

Push ups

Pull up

Dips

Crunches

Squats

Lunges

Sprints

Once I master the basics I will move on to more advanced movements. But only when I feel confident in each of the categories.

I am okay with slow and steady wins the race.

I am not in any hurry, and when it comes to my health, patience, practice, persistence, and careful planning will be the mainstays of a healthy happy body.

There are so many advantages to Calisthenics that it’s probably best you just check out my site.

Just recently I wast watching a great video by Elliot Hulse on Parkour. During the video one of the gentlemen talked about the origins of Parkour and how it originated fr9om The Natural Method. by Georges Hébert. Hébert while in the marines visited many primitive cultures and noticed that the indigenous people were in excellent physical condition despite the all to common gym membership that we have become so accustomed to. He learned that the reason for the great physical shape and appearance was due to their so called natural movements they did on a regular basis such as: running. jumping, throwing, carrying, etc. He later designed the courses that many military facilities use today also known as the the modern day obstacle courses.

As with all things in life what was new and hip yesterday is old today, and the obstacle course of the urban jungle have evolved into an even more modern day obstacle course which is what we all know as Parkour.

Last night, I was on the telephone speaking to a dear friend, its fair to say that I was in a BMC mode (Bitch Moan Complain), luckily for me the person at the other end was well prepared for my barrage of victimization stories and bemoaning. After I ceased my incessant whining, he shared something with me that immediately shifted my perspective and I literally felt my heart open up. Here is the story, it was first originally used by the famous Dr. Karl Menninger’s, it’s entitled, The Human Mind: A group of fish are swimming around in a pond when they notice one fish lying on its side with its tail flapping, and they decide to get away as quickly as possible from the weird fish — never noticing that the reason for its behavior is that it has a hook in its mouth, and the fish was just doing the best it could.

When I heard this story it quickly occurred to me that we are all just doing the very best that we can. I realized that the people that I had been blaming for the cause of my supposed grief where in fact simply just doing the best they could. The more I substituted this story with each of my so called victimizers I felt an enormous sense of empathy and compassion overwhelm me.

We are in fact all just doing the very best we can. And to love and just simply understand from a place of love and compassion, opens the doors of awakening toward human understanding that is for me so vitally important to co-existing on this planet.